“It’s not like anyone heard me.” I quirk a smile.
I don’t know if it’s sad or ironic that between Luca and Evelyn, she’s the only one who still plays music. She does it in secret now as Lyla West and is successful in her own right. Though I’m not sure she’ll ever share it with the world. After Fool’s Gambit broke up ten years ago, Luca stopped playing, and I know Evelyn feels guilty that she has a music career and he doesn’t.
“Excuse me,” the makeup artist says, holding the lash with tweezers.
Evelyn steps away, taking a sip from her glass. “You know what? Maybe I will leave.”
“You know you won’t,” I say, trying to stay as still as possible as glue is applied to my lash line and the lash is fixed into place.
“Yeah, but only because it would kill me to not be in your engagement pictures.”
“All right, everyone! Get your refills. Powder your faces and get back in position!” Kendal announces.
Evelyn downs the rest of her drink and salutes me before heading for the bar.
“You should be all set, but I recommend not standing under any AC vents,” my artist says.
“Thanks.” Maybe I should follow Evelyn’s lead and take a shot. It’s getting harder to fake it with each take. My mouth is sore from forcing the exact right type of smile that reads excited yet utterly surprised.
“This time, let’s have Evelyn standing farther to the right, and you two…” Kendal says pointing to a pair of P.As. standing off to one side. “Yes, you. Stand with the group up front. We want to see the cast, but the last thing we need this to look like is a movie poster.” She claps. “Take sixteen. Let’s make it the last one but feel like the first one.”
Perform.
When Jamie sinks down on one knee, I open a door in the back of my mind. His full mouth tilts, just the slightest bit lopsided, like he has a joke tucked in his cheek saved for later.
Amber eyes shift to a blue that gets darker just along the edges, like ripples on a lake.
“Will you marry me?” The words form on his lips but what I hear instead is “Marry me. Nothing more to it.”
“Yes,” I gasp through a soft smile as my vision blurs. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
Finally, the shoot is over.
All it took was thinking ofhim.
I’m slinging my purse over my shoulder when my assistant Harper bounces over to me. She’s a short girl with honey colored hair who drinks iced coffee like water and has been working forme since she graduated from NYU. My life, with all of its moving parts, would fall apart without her.
“This came over by courier for you,” she says brightly as she holds out a thick manilla envelope. It arrived faster than I anticipated.
I take it, gripping the paper so hard that it crinkles. “Why don’t you head home for the night? It’s getting late.”
“See you tomorrow. Text me if you need anything.”
The moment she walks away my index finger is peeling open the seal. My heart thunders as I discreetly peer inside and read the bold heading on the top page, already knowing what I’ll find.
Petition for Divorce
2
Wesley
August 2024
He dips her, and my world spins off its axis and into oblivion. Her eyes are closed. A wave of red hair flows down her back, nearly brushing the floor. The lapels of his suit jacket are clenched in her fist. The camera flash glints off the glasses raised in celebration behind them.
“Fucking hell. You think we can go a week without getting some news about this bitch? Now she’s going to get married, and we won’t be able to go anywhere without seeing headlines about it.” The man next to me at the bar shuts off his phone, the image of her engagement disappearing with it.
His friend barks a drunken laugh over the sound of billiard balls cracking in the back of the dimly lit dingy bar.
